One thing that we know for sure about GdT's contract was that it was for two movies, not for one. From the beginning. The difference was that it changed from one Hobbit and one bridge to two Hobbit films, but that certainly wouldn't account for the increases you are talking about. If anything, it would make the shooting smoother, since it is all one consecutive story. But the announcement when he was first hired was that he was hired to direct two movies. So that is not part of the equation. 'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'